Humans are the only species known to use fully symbolic language: a system capable of expressing abstract ideas, imaginary worlds and endless combinations of meaning. But how did we get there? The ...

In Ecuador’s highlands, a seamless mix of Kichwa and Spanish creates a language that bends grammar, adds melody and goes ...

A new study suggests the way a language divides up color space can be influenced by contact with other languages. Tsimane' people who learned Spanish as a second language began to classify blue and ...

Most of us pick up a coffee, glance at the sky, talk about karma, or call a colleague a guru without giving it a second thought. These feel like ordinary English words. They are. Yet each one carries ...

Language is estimated to have emerged in humans between 100,000 and 1,000,000 years ago 1. The functions of language and the causal drivers in its origins have long been fiercely debated across ...

A new study of bilingual speakers suggests that a single “grammatical engine” in the brain can power multiple languages at ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the big picture of artificial intelligence. This article is more than 4 years old. Johannes Gutenberg's printing ...

Language learning is often a daunting prospect. Many of us wish we had learned a language to a higher level at school. But even though adults of all ages can do well in acquiring a new language, fear ...